Stargate: Dead Man's Chest of Truth?
by doci7
Summary: Anubis is all but forgotten and now SG1's other Ascended nemesis, Adria, is neutralized as well. But is locking Ascended beings in eternal conflict really a permanent solution?  Was Anubis really the only Goa'uld to achieve Ascension? Here're the answers.


This is in a post-Continuum but pre-end-of-Atlantis-series time-frame. I'm generally well-versed in SG1, so there are going to be some specific in-series references that hopefully aren't too thick.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Proposals**

General Hank Landry reached out and seized the mug from the table before him. The sound of the ceramic leaving the polished wood surface was the first to break the ambient hum of the conference room since the last time Dr. Jackson let slip one of his deliberate coughs; an event which already seemed hours distant. Taking a lukewarm swig, Landry pursed his lips in mild disgust before replacing the mug and taking a good hard look at his wristwatch. Taking-in the time, his bushy eyebrows shot up as with a small shake of the head and a playful, "_tisk, tisk_." Donning a wide grin and joining his hands in front of him, elbows rested on the table, he looked at the members of SG1 in turn.

"Well," he began, the natural warmth of his voice tainted by a bit of sarcasm. "It seems the good General's running a bit late today. So, maybe you all could start off by briefing _me_, seeing as I'll be needed in the gate room in ten minutes."

Samantha Carter leaned over the table, looking down the length of it at Landry with wide, attentive eyes. She got off to a hesitant start. "Well, to be fair, sir, the General is _usually_ about five minutes late... roughly."

"Yes," Landry agreed, still sporting a glowing smile. "An allowance he exceeded fifteen minutes ago... roughly."

Carter averted her eyes to the table before her as she bit the side of her lip.

"Dr. Jackson," Landry called out, craning his head. "You were the last one to talk to him. Any clues as to what might be holding him up?"

Daniel didn't bother to sit up or to look up. Arms folded, he resignedly uttered, "Yup."

"And?" Landry questioned.

Daniel took his dramatic cue and leaned forward in the chair, looking at Landry with elevated chin. "He wrote off the new potential threat to humanity as, '_stupid-sounding_'."

Landry's grin went lopsided just then; a less than subtle hint that he actually _was_ amused this time. "I'll be sure to include that _informed_ opinion in my next report," he said. "In the meantime, I really am on a time crunch here people; do you have anything to pitch that doesn't require direct approval from Washington?"

"At this point, no," Sam explained without hesitation. "See, one of our plans would require more man power and resources than you're authorized to allocate to any given mission... the other..."

"...other?" Daniel asked sharply. Landry's eyes darted back and forth between them, his curiosity piqued.

"We'll need approval for your plan eventually, Daniel, we might as well ask while we have this opportunity."

Daniel shot forward in his chair. "But it's nowhere near a fully-formed idea yet, Sam!" His voice was uneven as he attempted to suppress his urgency.

"Actually... in my experience... General O'Neill's kind of a fan of half-baked ideas," Colonel Mitchell humbly put forth.

"In as much as he understands them better, I agree with you," Sam consented.

"Thanks," Mitchell saluted. He turned to see Daniel burrowing through him with a gaze of contempt. "What?"

"I think you skipped something important," General Landry insisted. "What about this plan prevents _me_ from authorizing it?"

"We'd need General O'Neill to sign-off on a requisition order for some area 51 tech," Mitchell explained.

"Alright," Landry interjected. "Maybe I _am_ just here for formality's sake. But do you realize that in the first twenty minutes spent waiting for General O'Neill, who is now... twenty _two_ minutes late, there wasn't so much as a word of conversation? Authorization hoops aside, couldn't we at least talk about something until Walter pages me to the gate room? Weekend stories? Upcoming plans?"

"I thought you'd never ask," Vala began. "As a matter of fact I..."

"...Preferably not from you," Landry suggested. "No offense, but the last time I was on a time budget and you had the floor, it was all a lot of 'Ori bartenders' and 'immaculate conception'."

"No, but you see, that was all business; my personal life is really much more fascinating when it's not buried under layers of intergalactic conspiracy." Vala's imperative petition never quite reached Landry's ears. He already had his focus set on a different member of the elite SG1.

"What about you Teal'c? I can't remember the last time I heard from you about..." Landry paused for a moment of deep reflection. "Well... anything."

The imposing Jaffa warrior bowed his head slightly in grateful humility. Teal'c opened his mouth to spea...

"Hey guys," General Jack O'Neill said, clapping his hands together as the door slammed shut behind him. "Dare I... inquire of that which is up?"

The room was silent. Sam gritted her teeth, sensing the air of contempt. Daniel absently fiddled with some pens, his lips tightly drawn together. Vala was in a huff over General Landry's disinterest in her life. Mitchell held forth a finger as if to begin a point, but hesitated before eventually diminishing back into the recesses of his chair. Teal'c's was a look that could've caused natural disasters and/or the spontaneous death of small fluffy animals the world round.

"Hi Sam," Jack said, waving to her as he made his way toward his seat. Sam self-consciously waved back. Daniel, still distant, leapt at the shock of O'Neill giving him a hardy slap on the back as he passed by. "Hey buddy," Jack said. He paused a moment behind his chair as he reached it, noticing Teal'c's facade. "My... we seem a bit long in the face today."

Teal'c shifted his jaw, raising his head as his deathly glare melted into a warm grin. "Seeing you is for once a mixed-blessing, O'Neill."

"Not at all likewise," Jack responded, sounding somewhat wounded as he sat himself, resting his arms on the table. At last, he acknowledged General Landry. "Sorry I'm late for the party."

"As I was just saying, it hasn't been much of a party without you," Landry said. "Your colleagues have been oddly tight-lipped about what they have planned. In _twenty-five minutes_, I haven't got a word out of them about any of it."

"My watch says twenty-_four_," Jack explained, eyeing his own watch. "Speaking of which, we should get this rolling; there's some good programming coming up in about half an hour."

"Am I to understand that you now view the television series _24_?" Teal'c inquired.

"Yes," Jack sighed as he contentedly looked into the distance. "There's just something about watching a guy named Jack save the world."

"Indeed."

"Enough," Landry insisted. "Dr. Jackson, would you _please_ get this started?"

Daniel stood from his seat and instantaneously produced a wad of previously unnoticed documents, passing them around. "I have a copy of Sam's and Mitchell's intelligence reports here; these were filed after our return from P3X-1701.247. During our reconnaissance mission there, we encountered a Goa'uld stronghold, the first we've seen still in operation since the height of the Ori invasion. Apparently, a minor Goa'uld managed to endure the entire Replicator and Ori war by consolidating all of his domain on a single isolated planet; the isolation was so successful that the residents of that world had never seen or heard of either the Replicators or the Ori. Now, apparently this Goa'uld managed to keep himself well-enough informed of everything that was going on in spite of this; he blames us for the death of the System Lords..."

"...As well he should," Jack interjected.

Daniel hardly skipped a beat. "...More importantly, he pledged to avenge those deaths. He's made a direct threat against Earth, and provided we're thinking _rationally_ about this," Daniel stared intently at Jack, "then we must respond to that threat accordingly."

"I suppose this is where the manpower comes in?" Landry surmised.

"This is also where I say no," Jack declared.

"You can't be serious," Daniel stated flatly. "If a threat is real and imminent, you can't dismiss it just because you think the person threatening you has a '_stupid name_'!"

"That's the gripe that made you twenty-five minutes late?" Landry said, half-laughing. Jack silently mouthed a 'four', holding up the matching number of fingers. All eyes were on him, most sharing some of Daniel's dissonance.

"What?" O'Neill insisted. "He's asking me to take a threat to the security of the planet Earth seriously when it comes from someone who calls himself, '_Bizuzu_'?"

"Well if you knew the first thing about Egyptian mythology you'd know that we're dealing with a very sadistic being."

"Ah, but I don't know the first thing; your argument is invalid."

Daniel made a face akin to a compound aneurism. Before he could attempt to come back with urgent appeals to logic and decency, Landry cut him off.

"Jack, perhaps it's best that you consider the actual _proposal_ before dismissing it. You know your argument won't hold water when you brief the president."

"No need," Jack replied. "As Daniel knows, I've already looked it over. I'll approve this mission, but that's where I draw the line. I don't want to hear any more from this guy after that."

"You won't," Sam assured him. "Considering what we've been up against lately, this operation should seem pretty basic."

"Good. So what else do you have?"

Everyone looked squarely at Daniel, whose own eyes danced back and forth in a sudden defensive fervor.

"Daniel," O'Neill chimed. "Landry specifically mentioned that there was more than one proposal on the table here. Now... kindly spill it."

"You made me awfully curious too," Landry told Jackson, thus reinforcing O'Neill. "Why don't you share this 'half-baked' idea of yours before I go?"

"Daniel? Half-baked? I like the sound of this," O'Niell mused.

"Well, if you _must_ know, I..."

The distinct voice of Walter resounded through the underground complex. _General Landry, please report to the gate room immediately._

"Just my luck," the General said, grunting as he stood from his chair, reaching for his mug before deciding to leave it where it lay. "Between reviewing the plan of attack against the great and terrible _Bizuzu_ and having to gain a full understanding of Dr. Jackson's here-to-fore undisclosed mystery proposal, I'll be in for quite a bit of unpaid overtime tonight. Walter's timing is impeccable."

"In that, your pain is shared, General Landry," Teal'c assured him.

Landry grabbed his leather jacket from the back of his chair, throwing it on. "You and I will have to catch up some other time," he said, pointing at Teal'c as his hand exited the sleeve on his way out the door. Teal'c nodded reverently.

The door came to a heavy close. Jack turned back to Daniel. "You were saying?"

With deliberate sloth, Daniel stood back up and once again produced from the great beyond a shuffled mass of papers. Handing them around haphazardly, the good doctor began a new spiel. "What I have here are a number of photocopies of manuscripts that I've recently been studying. These are from texts recovered from Merlin's library on the planet where we discovered Camelot. I found these texts of particular interest not only because they dealt with Earth, but more importantly, because of the time-period they were documenting."

"I'd venture a wild guess it's the middle ages," Jack taunted.

"And, you'd be wrong," Daniel said evenly. "That's the real kicker; these manuscripts refer to events well into the eighteenth century."

"Whoa whoa-whoa," Mitchell protested, his arms out-held. "I see the discrepancy, but how exactly are we supposed to believe that writings from the 1800's ended up in an off-world library when we _know_ Merlin froze himself well before that?"

Sam interjected. "Actually, you're thinking of the 1700's."

Mitchell buried his forehead in his palm as he realized his mistake. "Right, that's an easy mistake to make, but my question still applies."

"Yes, and believe me, I gave no small amount of thought to that question," Daniel assured him. "We know as you said that Merlin would've been frozen before those events, and we also know that with the exception of the key holder, he would've been the only mortal being with access to his library."

"I presume the distinction of 'mortal being' plays a part in your explanation," Vala intuited.

"Yes. As a matter of fact, we're quite well-aware that the Ancients put one of their own in charge of overseeing _all_ matters related to Merlin."

"Morgan La Fay," Teal'c stated with profound resolution.

"Right."

"Alright," Jack said. "Assuming we've come to the proper conclusion about the 'who' and the 'when'. Why?"

"That's actually the easiest part to answer," Daniel asserted. "From what I can tell, the subject of these records is in fact very pertinent to some of the things Morgan would've needed anyone who opposed the Ori to know."

"Meaning?" Jack insisted.

"Meaning that Anubis isn't the only Goa'uld to achieve Ascension. Moreover, the other Goa'uld to achieve this feat was right here, on Earth, as little as three hundred years ago."

"Anubis, you say?" O'Niell lamented. "Why does everything keep coming back to that guy? I thought we were done with him!"

"He's only related to this in subject; as I said, the texts seem to indicate the existence of another Goa'uld who achieved Ascension."

"But what exactly does _any_ Ascended Goa'uld have to do with the Ori?" Mitchell inquired.

"Well, as you know, Anubis was just the first in a long line of Ascended enemies we've encountered. So far, apart from Merlin's weapon which we no longer have access to, the only way we've been able to defeat any individual Ascended being is by locking them in endless battle with a counterpart Ascended being; Anubis with Ohma, Adria with Morgan. Now, if I'm interpreting these texts with any degree of accuracy, they would seem to suggest another alternative."

"Perhaps you should summarize what the texts say," Carter suggested.

"Alright... essentially, they document the existence of a sea goddess and a number of interesting events that beset her. Apparently, all accounts suggest that this sea goddess fell in love with a mortal being in whom she invested supernatural abilities, although the accounts tend to disagree over whether these abilities were meant to be a blessing or a curse. Again, in all cases, the goddess revealed her secrets to her mortal lover, only to later betray him. It is said that the mortal then conspired with a number of vagabonds or sea traders and gave them the ability to 'bind the goddess into a physical form'." Daniel paused on this point. "He knew a way to make her mortal again."

"So, you're saying that at some point in the eighteenth century, there was a guy who could capture Ascended beings?" Mitchell asked. "And you know for certain that the being in question was Ascended... how, exactly?"

"Well the descriptions in the various accounts coincide with all of the properties of Ascended beings we're familiar with. This 'goddess' commanded great powers, was non-corporeal before being ensnared, and had the ability to endow normal humans with 'supernatural' capabilities, not unlike the Ori's ability to create Priors. We also already know that encapsulating an Ascended being in a physical form _is_ technologically achievable, because Anubis maintained the likeness of a body within his Shield."

"Again, assuming all other bets are off, how exactly did you arrive at the conclusion that this 'being' was at one time a Goa'uld?" Jack demanded.

"Well, the 'goddess' in question was referred to in the texts by a few different names, but was most consistently known as..." Jackson took a moment to flip a page in his own printouts, "...Calypso. Based on Tok'ra documentation of the various Goa'uld, we know that this particular deity was the identity of a former System Lord. In a few of Merlin's texts, it is said that eventually the sea traders revoked their contract with Calypso's mortal lover and returned her to her 'original form'. The event of her transformation back into a god-like being is described in some detail. At one point she became enraged and began to speak violently in an unfamiliar tongue. A few of the traders who were present attempted to record the syllables, some of which fit very closely to obscenities in ancient Egyptian. They also spoke of her voice as possessing an odd echoing quality; the description isn't far askew from how we might attempt to describe the sound of a Goa'uld's voice."

"Explain more concretely, if you can, how exactly this is something that Morgan La Fay would see as important enough to put in your path," Jack insisted.

"Most likely it was to give us as many alternative means of dealing with the Ori as possible," Jackson surmised. "She knew that getting Merlin's weapon would be difficult, and she may have even accounted for the possibility that the Ori would introduce an Orici as sort of a back-up plan. But by leaving these documents for us to find, she gave us the means to locate the device so that if all else failed we could use it to ensnare the Ori, or anyone who might've come to take their place, like Adria did."

Mitchell held his head low in bewilderment. "Okay, so, on top of everything else you've just dropped in our laps, you're now suggesting that you can find this... Ascended-capture-Shield-thing?"

"Sort of," Sam intervened.

Jack cleared his throat. "You have something to add, Carter?"

"Well sir, from what Daniel told me, none of the accounts speak to exactly what this device looked like or what might've happened to it after Calypso was set free again."

Daniel added a bit. "There were descriptions of a few trinkets used in a ceremonial 'release of her spirit,' but with no clear leads as to which if any was actually the device in question."

"That would seem to suggest that we have no chance of ever finding it."

"Not really," Sam asserted. "See, we know exactly where it is, at a certain point in time, anyway."

"Don't... even go there," Jack said, apprehensive about what Sam might've been about to recommend.

"Sir, this is at least as important as going back to retrieve a ZPM from ancient Egypt..."

"DAAAAAAA!" Jack stated. "No more time travel, Carter! We've opened that can of worms one too many times."

"Actually," Mitchell chimed in, "I haven't had one of the signature SG1 time-traveling adventures yet."

"Nor have I," Vala realized, reflecting as she tapped a finger against her chin.

"Sir, you have to consider that our ultimate solutions to both Anubis and Adria are inherently tentative. We're relying entirely on the assumption that Ohma and Morgan La Fay are both willing _and_ able to antagonize them for the rest of eternity. If we could capture them in a physical form, we could end it ourselves, for good."

"No more Anubis, for good, you say?" O'Neill reflected, shifting his jaw.

"Are you starting to see it from my point of view, Jack?" Daniel asked, his voice smooth and low.

"Au contraire. This is the most spotty patchwork of hair-brained crackpot theories you ever have wrought, Daniel. But that's why I'm backing it one hundred percent. On one condition. I come along."

"Why?" Daniel demanded.

"Because! I want to be there when you realize that you had no idea what you were talking about and risked altering the timeline over nothing." Jack donned a mischievous grin. "That, and, from what I understand, I have a much larger fan-base than most of you combined."

The various SG1 members all looked suspiciously around the room before settling their eyes questioningly into the camera lens, thus breaking the fourth wall.

Daniel turned back to Jack. "So, the mission is a go?"

"It's a go," Jack assured him. "So... let's get a-going..."


End file.
